BeiGene presents data at ESMO virtual congress 2020 on phase III trial of tislelizumab in first-line non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

BeiGene, Ltd. announced the first reported data from RATIONALE 304, the Phase III trial of its anti-PD-1 antibody tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy as a potential first-line treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020, which takes place on September 19-21., RATIONALE 304, Phase III Trial of Tislelizumab in Combination with Chemotherapy in First-Line Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-Squamous NSCLC.":Poster #1263P . Tislelizumab in combination with pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy has demonstrated encouraging results among advanced NSCLC patients with non-squamous histology, including a median progression-free survival of 9.7 months and an overall response rate of 57.4 percent. We are hopeful that tislelizumab can bring a new treatment option to patients with lung cancers in China,” commented Shun Lu, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Shanghai Chest Hospital at Jiao Tong University and lead investigator for the trial. RATIONALE 304 is a randomized, open-label, multi-center Phase III clinical trial of tislelizumab in combination with pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy (either carboplatin or cisplatin) as a first-line treatment for patients with stage IIIB or stage IV non-squamous NSCLC, compared to pemetrexed and platinum alone (NCT03663205). A total of 334 patients in China were enrolled in the trial, randomized at 2:1 to receive tislelizumab (200 mg every three weeks) in combination with chemotherapy (Arm A) or chemotherapy alone (Arm B). As of the data cutoff on January 23, 2020, with a median follow-up time of 9.8 months, 97 patients (43.5%) remained on treatment in Arm A and 20 patients (18.0%) in Arm B. Results included ; The trial achieved the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) as assessed by independent review committee (IRC), with a median of 9.7 months in Arm A, a significant improvement compared to 7.6 months in the chemotherapy alone Arm B (p=0.0044; stratified hazard ratio [HR]=0.645 [95% CI: 0.462, 0.902]); Higher objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were achieved in patients who received tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy as assessed by IRC per RECIST v1.1 – 57.4% (95% CI: 50.6, 64.0) and 89.2% (95% CI: 84.4, 93.0) in Arm A, compared to 36.9% (95% CI: 28.0, 46.6) and 81.1% (95% CI: 72.5, 87.9) in Arm B; Longer duration of response (DoR) was observed in patients who received tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy, with a median of 8.5 months (95% CI: 6.80, 10.58) in Arm A, compared to 6.0 months (95% CI: 4.99, not evaluable) in Arm B. Treatment of tislelizumab in combination with platinum and pemetrexed was generally well-tolerated, with no new safety signals identified; All patients in Arm A and 99.1% of patients in Arm B experienced at least one treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE); TEAEs leading to permanent discontinuation of any component of treatment occurred in 25.7% and 9.1% of the patients in Arm A and Arm B, respectively; Most treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were hematologic in nature and primarily mild-to-moderate in severity.